WHY GOLD?

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Contents

Preface......................................................xiIntroduction.................................................xvii1 The Declaration Of Independence............................32 The Founding Fathers' Philosophy...........................93 Man Works For Profit And Pleasure..........................134 What Is Money?.............................................155 What Is Capitalism?........................................216 What Is Socialism?.........................................297 Capitalism Vs. Socialism...................................398 To The Glory Of Gold.......................................559 The Ancient World Glittered With Gold......................6110 The California Gold Rush..................................6911 The Domestic Gold Standard................................7512 The International Gold Standard...........................7913 Economic Freedom And Gold.................................8314 Three Variations Of The Gold Standard.....................8915 Inflation Or The Gold Standard............................9316 Depression Or The Gold Standard...........................10117 Fallacies About The Gold Standard.........................10918 How To Return To The Gold Standard........................11719 Gold Goes With Freedom....................................125Selected Bibliography........................................133End Notes....................................................135

Chapter One

In 1776, fifty-six men joined together to declare the independence of man. This was the first time in history man had declared he possessed certain "unalienable rights." Those fifty-six men declared: "We hold these truths to be self-evident; that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness ..." The self-evident truths which the fifty-six Founding Fathers proclaimed, were man's right to live by reason, to choose the purpose of his happiness, and to keep the fruits of his labor. The crucial principle that the Founding Fathers discovered was that man's happiness lay with man, the individual-that man is an end in himself-not the means to the ends of others. These men produced the greatest document the world had ever seen. They produced the American Declaration of Independence.

Thomas Jefferson, author of the Declaration, said the purpose of the Declaration is "to place before mankind the common sense of the subject" and to make this document "an expression of the American mind."

The Declaration, as "an expression of the American mind," concisely states man's rights and defines the purpose and nature of government. It declares:

... that to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed; that whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness ... when a long train of abuses and usurpations pursuing invariably the same object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government and to provide new guards for their future security. The Declaration also declares that "... all experience hath shown that mankind is more disposed to suffer while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed." Jefferson's observation was correct. It took 6,000 years of agonizing history before the people cried: "Enough! Enough of the divine right of kings; enough of inquisitions, economic planners, the tyranny of the mob, of bureaucratic whim and of bureaucratic czars!"

The American colonists rebelled at the idea of being the means by which King George III ruled their lives. They rebelled at the idea of "taxation without representation," that they should be taxed to support British troops they never requested nor wanted, which were to be garrisoned in the colonies. They rebelled at the British Navigation Acts, the Stamp Act, the Townshend Acts, and the Intolerable Acts which severely interfered with their trade.

In every stage of these oppressions the colonists petitioned for redress. But their petitions were answered only by repeated injury.

Emotions were running high. It would not have taken much to bring a showdown between the colonists and the garrisoned British troops. The colonists were already fired up by Patrick Henry's "Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death" speech. And when Paul Revere warned them of oncoming British troops, the colonists readied themselves. They foiled the attempted arrest of Samuel Adams and John Hancock. Interference in the colonists' lives culminated in 1776 at Lexington and Concord, when the first shots of the American Revolution were fired.

By 1776, the fifty-six Founding Fathers realized that there was to be no liberty, freedom or justice under British rule. They were ready to take a stand-to dissolve all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain. On July 4, 1776, standing tall, straight, and unwavering, they solemnly published and declared, "that these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States; that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown . . . And for the support of this declaration ... we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor."

The price for freedom and independence came very high. It cost some of the Founding Fathers their lives and their fortunes: Five signers were captured by the British as traitors. Twelve had their homes ransacked and burned. Two lost their sons in the Continental Army. Another had two sons captured. Nine of the fifty-six signers fought and died from wounds or the hardships of the American Revolution. But the honor of all fifty-six men survived unscathed, to be remembered with a feeling of pride by all future Americans.

These stories are typical of those who risked everything to sign the Declaration. They were not wild-eyed, rabble-rousing ruffians. They were heroes, men larger than life, who distinguished themselves by forethought and bravery. Twenty-five men were lawyers or jurists. Eleven were merchants. Nine were farmers or large plantation owners. They were men of means and education. They had security, but they valued liberty more. They signed the Declaration of Independence knowing full well that the penalty could be death if they were captured.

"There is a price tag on human liberty," said James Monroe. "That price is being free men. Payment of this price is a personal matter with each of us." Benjamin Franklin summed it up when he said, "They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety." No, freedom is not free. The price is very high indeed.

To secure the rights for which the revolutionists fought and died, the Founding Fathers produced another great document-The Constitution of the United States of America. William Pitt said, "It will be the wonder and...